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Topic: Passed on Court Denizens... (Read 4500 times)

So I saw the Jabba's Court Denizens Ultra set at Target tonight, but wound up not buying it. I held it in my hands for quite a while, though, and stared at the contents while I made up my mind.

Bubo looks really great, the Wol Cabbashite thing is neat but tiny (not to mention something I've never even noticed in the movie), and the B'ommarr Monk is, well, the B'ommarr Monk--the highlight of the set in many respects (size, articulation, creepiness factor), except that it's a figure I already have a couple of and just don't really need.

I nearly bought it just to get Bubo, but I couldn't justify ten bucks for a little figure with no legs. Here's to hoping someday Hasbro does the right thing and sells a Bubo with Jawa handler 2-pack.

Though I won't pass on it since I'm not physically allowed to, I can see your point Bobb. I'd guess that many others will be in the same boat as you - already have the Monk, Wol Cabashite is too small and so insignificant to matter, and the Bubo will be the unfortunate casualty due to the $10+ Ultra price tag and not really wanting the other two.

I'm sure Bubo will be popping up on many people's trading "wants" lists in the near future for this very reason. I can also predict some less than scrupulous tactics that some will go about in an effort to obtain Bubo - the likes of which I'm seeing more and more often these days. I won't go into the gory details though, lest some fool get some stupid idea in there head...

Bobb, a possible alternative may be to buy the set and try to dump the extra B'Omarr Monk figure on somebody else who might want it for $5...

I'll be buying it since I have none of the figures, but I can see why you decided to leave it. I wouldn't pay $10 for a small new little figure with two rehashes I already have either, but there could be clearances in your area soon. I'd pick it up then.

I picked it up today, and just figured it'll be nice to have Bubo and a red jar Monk. The Cabageshite guy is weird... OK I guess.

The Bubo figure is HUGE. not sure he's oversized or what, but he's huge compared to what I thought.

I need to check some footage of ROTJ out to review that sequence though. I just don't think this is right as far as scale goes. That's disappointing, considering everything.

THis set is the weakest shipping with Jabba I think. Unfortunately, I think Hasbro's really killing the Ultra line themselves, and combined with its higher pricetag (which immediately pushes itself away from the hardcore collectors), I think it's a doomed line eventually.

The 3PO with escape pod was utter crap to me... The Riekean figure was nice, but should've been a single carded figure... The Wampa's great from top to bottom, but I'm starting to see it linger around now along with the previous two.

Jabba on the other hand will move some because, it's Jabba and as good a ROTJ version as we've gotten and are likely to get. The Denizens though were already ALL sitting on the pegs (where I got mine today) while all the Jabba's were already taken. Seems to me that these won't be tough to get.

So, to me, this line's got a bleak future, as much as I maybe love the idea of it. These figures could stand to be a LOT more than Hasbro's giving I think. The single figure line's on a major upswing at least. These $10 pricerange figures definitely have been a weaker point for Hasbro in the past though, and hopefully will be something the company can turn itself around on.

I love the idea of the 3 pack but like Muftak I have no incentive to buy it. The Ultra line, as Jesse points out, isn't 'ultra' enough. With the exception of the Wampa and Jabba, I find myself justifying spending $10 or $11 for these when I see them.

I try not to think about the amount of plastic while justfiying a price. The way I see it, is that the Ultra line gives us a chance to get some strange/obscure stuff we might not get otherwise. Also, if you buy Jabba and the denizens together, think of it as 20.00 for everything, that way it might make more sense.

It's not even the plastic ammount, so much as it's an overall lack of "quality" in a lot of items.

The Wampa, for instance, is articulated fairly well... Lots of joints, a nice removable arm, a great base, great sculpt, good paint application... Interacts with ANOTHER figure too. Those are good ultra things.

Riekean on the other hand is a figure with LESS than the old POTF2 standard 6 points of articulation. I mean the guy has 5! That's pretty rough to accept in a $10 figure, no matter how inactive the guy was in the movie. His base isn't exactly complex either. He was, for all intents and purposes, a $5 figure. Even then he was only a $5 figure because his accessory wouldn't be just a tiny blaster.

The Denizens are kind of the same thing... One new thing has no articulation whatsoever and could've been an accessory packed in with a basic figure (J'Quille perhaps?). The other new thing is the only real "highlight" of the set (Bubo that is), but ins't overly complex itself. The B'Omar Monk's not really an inspiring character in the first place, and I think that's why he was a mail-away before. A repack of him just doesn't cut it much either.

The line, I fear, is really in for a rocky road. I could be wrong, but right now it isn't seeming that way since Ultra's the only line I can find with any relative ease anymore.

I know I make the comment too often and it is probably tiresome, but I have to chuckle at you guys.

$10 for a three pack, crappy or not, is great as part of your disposable income. Walmart, the cheapest source (which seldom, if ever, has anything anyway in Canada) sells figures for $8.92 each. Add 14% tax to that and our single carded figures are $10 each. Yeah, yeah, Canadian pesos, but it's what I get paid in, so that's the same as $10 to you. Likely if the Ultra figs even show up in my city, they'll retail for $15.99 plus the taxes. Or around $18+

Blah, blah, blah, woe are the canuckleheads. I know. Just remember, it could be worse, you could be like Dale and I (and others) stuck relying on friends and having to pay shipping and often customs fees on top of the retail price.

Suck it up and blow the $10

Logged

Minivans: a sign of the apocalypse.

SilverZ

Yeah, I can see Bubo sitting for a while pretty soon. I think the figure is really nice, but I didn't really need another monk and Cabashite is just that... shite. It's not a really compelling assembly, especially sitting on the shelf.

On the other hand, Jabba is mighty impressive for 10 bucks (personal dissatisfaction with the execution aside). Same with the Wampa. Playset pieces and a figure too costly for a single card.

In the end Hasbro at least has the right idea - limit the number of releases per year. The fact that these won't ship through the fall means there won't be pegwarmers come next year, and they can relaunch again. Hopefully by then Hasbro can regroup, and get the line up to where they are with the single carded guys.

They need to adhere to a better mantra when putting these things together. Wampa and Jabba = Ultra. I would still consider Bacta Luke as Ultra if it was shipped now. Ewok and Glider makes sense as Ultra. Standard size figures that are lesser than single carded figures and don't have accessories of better build or scale than single carded accessories should be ruled out. 3P0 was questionable - the escape pod was a good accessory but the paint/articulation on the figure was abysmal. With that in mind, I'd consider standard size figures in the Ultra line along these lines:

Well, thanks to SilverZed3 Tydirium here (who stashed one for me), I now have one of these in my hand... I should add to my previous comments, by saying that while I think some collectors won't be too gung-ho on this set since they already have the Monk, I'd still say this set is probably worth the $10 Ultra price. I think the Monk makes for a solid $5 basic figure on it's own, and that the other two combined are probably good for another $5 ($4 for Bubo, $1 for Wol). I think price-wise that's reasonable, especially for newer collectors who may have missed out on B'Omarr the first time. So I don't really have a gripe with that.

I also agree with speedermike's comment about looking at this set and the Jabba set together for $20. That makes it look better. I'd guess that Hasbro's doing just that, taking less of a profit on the nicer larger Jabba set, while making a little of that back on this smaller, and partially rehashed set of Palace Denizens. I'll live with it.

I still think that overall they're doing pretty well with the Ultra line. Yeah, there could be a little more value or quality added into it, and probably should be with a couple, but I'm still getting some cool figures and/or cool accessories that I may not otherwise see in the basic line. So with that in mind, I'm ok with the direction of the line so far. I think they've got some more good ideas on tap, and probably a couple that won't be quite as great, but overall, I'll take them.

Jesse, you really think the Bubo's out of scale? This is about the exact size I always imagined him to be, or pretty dang close to it. I know that shot of him alone in the desert won't help much, but hopefully someone can dig up one of those group shots with him in it to compare. Of course, you're the expert in this area, so LMK when you've figured it out, so I can determine if I'm going to have a minor gripe with it as well!

Well I just picked up these sets yesterday, was amazed to find them. I had to stand there a moment or two to decide if I really wanted to pick them up, but I went ahead with the purchase anyways. I've not opened them yet, won't be doing that for a while, but I'm looking at the Jabba and it's definitely worth the $10 as it's a nicely detailed set (granted no dais, but I'll live with that for now). Meanwhile, the Denizens is a bit questionable in that yeah you get 3 figs, but something seems awkward. That awkwardness is probably coming from the size of the packaging. There's so much extra space in the bubble that the offerings look small. However, we're getting a formerly $10 exclusive in the Monk, plus a nice Bubo and the small Cabbashite for all of $10 and it comes to be acceptable.

As for group pics of Bubo with other Jabba denizens, I found the following pics....

Thanks for the pix Jason. That bottom was is especially nice. I don't have near the eye for scale that Jesse's got, but I still think that based on those shots the Hasbro figure came pretty close. Maybe it's just a tad big, but it'll work for me, unless Jesse tells me otherwise.

Nah, I agree, I think Hasbro at least got it much closer than I originally thought. I need to rewatch the sequence where Bubo snaps at I believe 3PO and R2 when they're ushered in.

That's the only other source I wanna check (the actual moving film), but thanks to Jason's shots he sent, I think the figure is indeed much closer to scale than I thought. Possibly a tad oversized, but I'm not really even sure on that. He may be just right.

I'm in agreement with those that are saying this set is worth the $10 value wise, but perhaps not to those who already have the B'Omarr Monk figure, which is understandable. I think the Bubo looks great! I would've liked to have seen it on a single card so I could pick up an extra or two, but I'll manage.

Anytime Hasbro makes a never-before-made figure, I'm all for it, regardless of how we get it!